Scottish Government

Notes to News Editors

1. The information presented in this statistical publication is provided by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland ( SAAS), and analysed by the Scottish Government.

2. SAAS administers the student support arrangements for Scottish domiciled higher education students studying throughout the UK and EU students studying in Scotland.

3. Most full-time first degree courses and equivalent level qualifications are covered by SAAS student support, as well as the postgraduate teaching qualifications and some sub-degree courses. Certain other postgraduate qualifications are also covered. Information on support provided by SAAS is covered in the main body of this publication, in the section entitled 'Mainstream Student Support'. Pre-registration Nursing and Midwifery students are supported by the Scottish Government's Health Directorate, though SAAS deals with their applications and administers their payments. Top level information on such students is provided in the 'Supplementary Tables' section of this publication. Additional support is also available to students experiencing financial difficulties through the Higher Education Discretionary and Childcare Funds. Some data on these funds is also included in the 'Supplementary Tables' section. Data on fee support provided for certain part-time students through the ILA (Individual Learning Account) 500 scheme is also included in the 'Supplementary Tables' section.

4. Since 2001-02, support for new entrants has consisted of up to 3 elements: tuition fees paid by SAAS on behalf of all eligible students (direct to the institution of study); living cost support through a loan extended by the Student Loans Company; and targeted allowances to certain groups of students (e.g. young students, students with disabilities, students with dependents).

5. Over the period covered in this publication several changes to the student support package available through SAAS occurred. The main changes are outlined below.

Grants & Awards

For undergraduate students, Standard Maintenance Allowance ( SMA) only applies to those who entered the system before 1998-99. Postgraduate students on taught postgraduate diplomas (excluding education) who come under the PSAS scheme (Postgraduate Students Allowances Scheme) are eligible for income assessed SMA.

The Dependants Grant for children and the School Meals Grant were abolished in 2004-05, following the introduction of the new tax credits system.

The Young Students' Bursary ( YSB) income thresholds were changed in 2005-06, from £10,740 for the maximum payment to £17,000 and from £27,900 for the point above which YSB is no longer payable to £31,000. This meant that more students were eligible for the full amount of YSB. The maximum amount of YSB available to students was also increased in 2005-06. In 2008-09 eligibility for the YSB was extended to include young students (i.e. those under 25) who have a dependent child. This change applied to new entrants in 2008-09 only. In addition any continuing student who received YSB as a dependent in 2007-08 will continue to do so even if they subsequently become independent because they are now living with a partner and/or have a child under three.

Students' Outside Scotland Bursary ( SOSB) was introduced in 2006-07 for new students studying outside Scotland. This replaced the Young Students Outside Scotland Bursary for young students studying outside Scotland and extended eligibility to mature students.

The maximum amount of the non-medical personal help allowance element of Disabled Students' Allowance was increased from £12,420 to £20,000 in academic year 2008-09.

Fee Payments

Scottish and EU domiciled students studying in Scotland are eligible to have their tuition fees paid by SAAS.

Students who entered their course between 2001-02 and 2005-06 can apply for fee support and can receive £1,255 which is paid directly to the institution (£3,315 if they are postgraduates). Those who entered in 2006-07 or later, or those returning after a break in study of a year or more, can receive £1,775 in fee support for a first degree or post graduate teaching qualification. The fee for medical students is £2,825 and for a Higher National Certificate ( HNC) or Higher National Diploma ( HND) level course it is £1,255. Postgraduate course fees (excluding teaching qualifications) are £3,315.

Fee loans were introduced in 2006-07 for new Scottish students who were studying outside of Scotland in the rest of the UK. In 2007-08 both new students and those who began their course in 2006-07 could apply for fee loans. In such cases fees are paid direct to the institution on the students' behalf and are repaid by the student in the same way as maintenance loans. In 2008-09 such students can receive a fee loan of up to £3,145.

Loan Assessments

Prior to 1999-00 students applied for a loan through their institution and not SAAS. From 1999-00 onwards new entrants have applied to SAAS for a loan. SAAS calculates a student's loan entitlement and the Student Loans Company ( SLC) extends the loan. The data on loans included in this publication relate to the level of loans assessed by SAAS. This might not match the final loan that a student draws from SLC due to a number of factors such as non-completion of course.

In order to compare the numbers being assessed by SAAS and the final uptake figures of loan from the Student Loans Company ( SLC), figures from the SLC are included in this publication ( Table 7).

Details on loans issued under previous arrangements in the period before 1999-00 are not included in this publication (including mortgage-style repayment loans).

In academic year 2007-2008 students received their loan instalments on a monthly basis for the first time. Prior to this, payments were made at the start of each term.

Loans were available to some part-time students on low incomes or certain benefits who were studying at least 50 per cent of a full-time course from 2000-01 to 2007-08. From academic year 2008-09 onwards, part-time loans are no longer available. They have been replaced with the ILA (Individual Learning Account) 500 scheme which provides part-time higher education students on low incomes or benefits with a grant of up to £500 towards the cost of their tuition fees.

6. The level of income assessed support payable to students is dependent on the unearned income of the student, as well as his/her parents' (or spouse's/civil partner's) residual income. The residual income of the parent(s) or spouse/civil partner is calculated as the total income from all sources (including earned income from employment, income from property/pensions/benefits, interest from savings, etc.) less allowable deductions (such as superannuation contributions, retirement annuity premiums, allowances for dependants, etc.). The residual income is then used as the basis for income assessment for awards, fee payments and loans as appropriate.

7. In academic year 2008-09 the means test for student support was changed for all students to bring it into line with means testing done in colleges and for other government schemes. The main implication of this change was that the income of a parent's partner or a student's partner would now be taken into consideration. In addition, a step-parent's income would also now be taken into consideration, even if they had not legally adopted the student. Allowable deductions from assessed income were restricted to only include maintenance payments made for other children in further or higher education. In some cases other maintenance payments would begin to be considered as income.

8. In recent years student support levels and income thresholds have been uprated by the forecasted Retail Price Index excluding mortgage payments ( RPIX). Additional changes to support amounts and thresholds have also been made due to changes in policy resulting in variations which are not in line with inflation. Some of the key changes are outlines at paragraph 5 above.

9. In considering the statistics presented in this paper it may also be useful to be aware of the sources of finance which fund different types of student support. Fees and Awards are paid directly from the Scottish Government's Block Grant (also known as the Departmental Expenditure Limit or DEL). Funding for loans is provided by HM Treasury from what is known as the Annual Managed Expenditure ( AME) budget. However, for every £1 of loan paid by HM Treasury from its AME budget, it costs the Scottish Government 31p from its DEL budget to cover the cost of subsidising interest on the loans and the cost of loans which may eventually be written off.

10. The following classification has been used in this publication to define the level of study of students receiving support. This classification is consistent with other Scottish Government National Statistics publications on higher education.

• Postgraduate: Students attending courses where a first degree qualification is an entry requirement. This includes students doing research or on a course leading to a higher degree, postgraduate diploma or equivalent (including post graduate diploma in education - PGDE - students).
• First Degree: Students on courses leading to a first degree or equivalent.
• Sub-Degree: Students on courses classified as higher education but not classified as postgraduate or first degree, such as HNCs and HNDs.

A small number of the qualification types supported by SAAS do not obviously fall into postgraduate/first degree/other undergraduate levels. For the purposes of this publication these have been coded at first degree level with the exception of those on Adult Education courses at residential colleges who have been included in 'other undergraduate courses'. This only affects around 30-40 students in each academic year.

Although certain students are classed as undertaking postgraduate levels study, they are funded through the undergraduate support stream. These mainly include Post Graduate Diploma in Education ( PGDE) students. In Table 4 (which shows supported students by domicile and level of study) such students are counted under the 'postgraduate' category.

11. This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

12. This publication contains some corrections of data published in the previous year's Statistical release. These corrections account for errors which have been picked up during quality assurance. For academic years 2003-04 to 2007-08, corrected figures are shown in the relevant tables and an indication of where they occur is given either in the footnotes or in the text accompanying the table. As it is customary to include time series data for six academic years in these publications, data for academic year 2002-03 was included in last year's publication but not this one. Corrected data for 2002-03 and previous years can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Lifelong-learning/SAAS

13. This release, together with associated tables listed above, is published on the Scottish Government website at the following address: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Lifelong-learning/Publications

14. Tables showing the figures contained in the publication back to 1997-98 will also be available on the Scottish Government website at the following address: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Lifelong-learning/SAAS

15. The Student Loans Company produces an annual publication on student loans and outstanding debt in Scotland. This can be found at the following link: http://www.slc.co.uk/pdf/slcsfr03r2009.pdf

An Annex to this publication giving information on repayment of loans can be found at: http://www.slc.co.uk/pdf/slcsfr032009annex.pdf

16. Further information on all aspects of student support provided by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, including types of support and eligibility can be found on their website at the following address: https://www.saas.gov.uk/

For further information ( non-media), enquiries and comments on this news release, please contact:

Debbie Amabile

Tel. 0300 244 6775
Fax. 0300 244 1060
E-mailfhestatistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

For media enquiries please contact:

Ashley Duff

Tel. (0131) 244 3070
E-mail:CommunicationsEducationAndLifelongLearning@scotland.gsi.gov.uk